Liquid-vending apparatus



GWWM.

J. M. MILLER.

LIQUID VENDING APPARATUS. APPLICATION FILED NOV. 25,1919.

1,339,522. A Patented May 11,1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET wimzssss 1. M. MILLER. LIQUID VENDI NG APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 25,1919- 1,339,522. Patented May 11, 1920.

W 2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

WITNESSES q UNITED STATES rA nnT OFFICE.

JOHN M. MILLER, OF SEWICKLEY, PENNSYLVANIA.

LIQUID-VENDING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent. Pet tented lVIay 11, 1920.

Application filed November 25, 1919. Serial No. 340,535.

To all whom it may "07168771.:

Be it known that I, JoHN M. MILLER, a residentof Sewickley, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have in vented a new and' useful Improvement in vending of gasolene, and in the following 7 description will be explained in its adaptability to such use. i

The object of the invention is to simplify the construction and improve the operation of the apparatus of the character described.

In the accompanying sheets of drawings, which form a part of this specification, the preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated. Figure 1 is anelevation of the complete apparatus; Fig. 2 is a central sectional view to enlarged scale taken on the line II, II, Fig. 3; Fig. 3 is a central sectional view at right angles to that of Fig.

"2, the plane of view being indicated by the line III, III, Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line IV, IV, Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view taken on the line V, V, Fig, 4; and Fig. 6 is a detached view of adetail explained herein after.

The apparatus constructed according to the invention, includes a measuring tank into which gasolene is intermittently pumped from a storage reservoir, preferably by a pump having an intake and a discharge .stroke as for example a reciprocating pump, and from which tank the gasolene is discharged to a customer or returned to the storage reservoir through, preferably,

a vertically adjustable pipe extending through the bottom of the measuring tank. This discharge pipe is so connected to a movable operating element of the pump that, during the intake stroke of the pump, the discharge pipe is lowered to effect discharge of the gasolene from the "measuring the end of a tank, and that, during the discharge stroke of the pump, such discharge pipe will be raised or elevated in the measuring tank to prevent the discharge from the tank of the gasolene being thus caused to flow into the tank. Thus the effect of the discharge pipe is to control the flow of gasolene from the measuring tank.

The invention also contemplates connections between the pump and the top of the measuring tank whereby the pump forms a compressor for compressing air to assist in .the discharge of gasolene from the measuring tank. Means are also provided for registering the total volume of gasolene dispensed by the apparatus, and for indicating the volume of gasolene sold to each customer.

As is usual in apparatus of the'sort contemplated herein, the storage reservoir 1 is shown below the surface of the ground,

and the pumping and measuring apparatus is mounted within and attached to a suitable casing.2, which may be of any desired external form. The measuring tank 3 is placed upon the top of the casing 2 and may be. constructed of glass or other transparent material. It is preferably surrounded by a wire gauze protection 4;. As indicated, the

measuring tank may have suitable graduations designating the unit volumes of liquid. The tank may be, and preferablyis, constructed to measure five gallons of gasolene at a time.

In the lower part of the casing there a reciprocating pump which may be made of any desired form of construction. As somewhat conventionally indicated, it consists of an outer casing or cylinder 5 within which there is a reciprocating piston 6 attached to piston rod 7. A conduit 8 leads from the bottom of the storage reservoir 1 to the top of the pump casing 5. This conduit is provided with a check valve 9, in-

dicated diagrammatically in Fig. 3, thearcheck valve 13, acting in the same manner as does the check valve 9 to permit flow only in an upward direction through the conduit 10. I

The piston rod 7 may be reciprocatedin any desired manner, as by means of a rack 14 formed as a continuation of the piston rod, and a pinion l5 keyed to a shaft 16, which shaft may be rotated by means of a crank arm 17 arranged on the outside of the casing 2. It will be seen that, b turning the crank arm in one direction, t e piston 6 will be lowered so that gasolene will be drawn into the casing 5 above the piston, and that, by rotating the arm in the opposite direction, the piston willbe raised to force the gasolene from the pump casing through the conduit 10 into the upper end of the measuring tank 3.

As previously stated, the flow of asolene from the measuring tank is prefera ly controlled by means of a discharge pipe 18 vertically movable through the bottom of the measuring tank. To the end that gasolene may be discharged from the measuring tank simultaneously with the drawing of further gasolene into the pump casing, and, furthermore, that the gasolene may not be discharged from the measuring tank while it is being caused to flow into such tank by the pump, the discharge pipe 18 is connected to an operating element of the pump. While various connections may be provided for this purpose, the piston rod may be directly connected to the pipe 18 by a further upward extension 19 of such rod. The upper end of the rod section 19 ma be forked and attached to the lower end of the pipe 18 in the manner shown in Fig. 3, such connection permitting ready flow of gasolene through the discharge pipe. To the upper end of the discharge pipe there may be attached a hood 20 to prevent-gasolene from falling directly from the top of the tank 3 into the discharge pipe;

The lower end of the discharge pipe 18 may be surrounded by a casing 21 closed at its lower end, except for the packed joint through which the rod section 19 reciprocates, and open at its upper end to the interior of the casing 22 of a valve 23. The casing 22 communicates with a discharge conduit 24, through which gasolene is delivered to a customer, and with a return conduit 25 leading 'to the storage reservoir 1. The valve 23 may be an ordinary three-way valve adapted to place the upper end of the casing 21 in communication either with the delivery pipe 24 or the return pipe 25. As shown in Fig. 2, the upper end of the casing 21 is in communication with the delivery pipe 24. By turning the valve 23 through substantially- 90 degrees in one direction, the casing 21 may be placed in communication with the return pipe 25.

As previously stated, the invention also contemplates connections between the pump and the top of the measuring tank whereby the pump may be used as a compressor for compressing air to assist in discharging gasolene from the measuring tank. For this purpose a conduit 26 may be extended from the bottom-of the pump casing 5 to the top of the measuring tank. It will be seen .that by such construction the intake stroke of the piston 6 forces air, and such gasolene charge pipe 18. Furthermore, during the discharge stroke of the pump, theair in the measuring tank is drawn therefrom through v the air line 26.

For registering the volume of gasolene dispensed by the apparatus in a given period of time, there is preferably provided a registering apparatus adapted to be advanced in proportion to the lowering of the discharge pipe 18, but only when the valve 23 is turned to permit the flow of gasolene from the easin" 21 through the delivery conduit 24. lvliile various means niay be provided for this purpose, a register 27 of the type which may not be turned rearwardly is preferably attached to the outer end of a frame 28 which is pivotally mounted at its other end, as at 29, to a lug 30 extending downwardly from the crank shaft supporting member 31.

As seen in Fig. 5, the outer end of the valve member 23 is provided with a crank arm 32, to which there is attached the upper end of a rod 33 connected at its lower end to the frame 28.

The register 27 is adapted to be advanced by the rotation of a rod 34 on which there ismounted a pinion 35 adapted to mesh with In Figs. 3 and 5 the frame 28- is shown in its lowered position, the pinions 35 and 36 being separated, whereas in Fig. 2 the registering mechanism is shown in operative register-advancing position.

Means are also provided for indicating, externally of the casing 2, the total volume of gasolene sold to each customer. For this purpose'the casin may be provided with a dial 37, over which an indicator hand 38 may be moved. As seen in Fig. 6, the hand 38 may be attached to a sleeve 39 to which there is also attached a ratchet wheel 40. .The sleeve 39 is rotatably mounted on a .-I1aft 41, to which there is keyed a sprocket wheel 42 adapted to be driven by sprocket chain 43 which extends over asecond sprocket 44 attached to the register shaft 34.

The sprocket wheel 42 is provided with a spring-pressed pawl'50 adapted to engage the ratchet 40 to cause the hand 38 to turn in clock-wise direction. By such construction the hand 38 will be rotated in proportion to the rotation of the shaft 34, and, after a-sale has been made, the hand may be further turned manually until it is again brought to its zero position.

That the hand 38 may not be manually turned to rotate the register shaft 34 when the register frame is in its lower position, the shaft 34 may be provided with a ratchet or detent wheel 45 adapted to be engaged by a detent arm 46, which may be attached to the conduit 26.

In the apparatus particularly shown herein, it is intended that the pump be of such capacity that, during each complete cycle thereof, a volume of gasolene slightly in excess of five gallons will be pumped into the measuring tank: In operation, assuming that the measuring tank 3 is emptied and that the pump'casing 5 contains, above the piston 6, a volume of gasolene previously drawn into the casing by the lowering of the piston 6, the crank arm 17 may be rotated to cause the gasolene to flow through the conduit 10 into the top of the measuring tank. The downwardly extending lip 47 of the cap 11 prevents the gasolene thus charged into the measurin tank from entering the air'conduit 26. '1 he discharge pipe 18 being raised to its uppermost position by the rotation of the crank arm 17, he upper end of such pipe will be at the evel of a volume of five gallons of gasolene in the measuring tank. Since to be on the safe side the pump has causedslightly' more than five gallons to enter the measuring tank, the excess volume is returned to the storage reservoir beforethe five gallons or. any fraction thereof is discharged through the delivery conduit 24. For thus returning the excess volume, the valve 23 is turned to place the casing 21 in communication with the return pipe 25? With the valve in such position,

the excess volume of gasolene will readily flow to the storage reservoir.

To cause the gasolene to now flow through the delivery pipe 24, the valve 23 is turned to the position indicated in Fig. 2, and such turning of the valve becomes effective, through crank arm 32 and rod 33, to raise the register frame 28 so that the pinions 35 and 36 are brought into mesh with each other. The crank arm 17 may now be rothrough the delivery conduit.

tated to lower the discharge pipe 18 so that gasolene will flow from the measuring tank lons of gasolene are-desired by a customer, the discharge pipe will be lowered to its lowermost position so that all of the five gallons are delivered. On the other hand, 'f less than five gallons are desired, the discharge conduit is lowered to such level as will permit the desired amount of gasolene to flow into and through such pipe.

If five gal- It will of course be understood that, during the lowering movement of the discharge conduit, gasolene is being drawn into the pump casing 5, which gasolene will be caused to flow into the measuring tank in the next cycle of operation. The indicator hand 38 having been set at zero before any gasolene is caused to flow through the delivery conduit, such hand will advance to indicate five gallons for each complete cycle of the apparatus. Thus there can be no uncertainty, when relatively large volumes of gasolene are being sold, as to just how much gasolene has been delivered to a customer.

According to the provisions of the patent statutes, I have described the principle and operation of my invention together with the apparatus which I now consider to represent the best embodiment thereof. However, I desire to have" it understood that, within the scope of the appended claims, my invention may be practised by other forms of construction than that particularly shown and described herein.

I claim:

1. In a liquid vending apparatus, the combination with a storage reservoir, of a measuring tank, a pump and pipe connections for transferring liquid from said reservoir to said tank, said pump having an intake movement for withdrawing liquid from said ing an intake stroke for withdrawing liquid from said reservoir and a discharge stroke for causing such withdrawn liquid to flow into saidtank, a discharge pipe leading from said tank and means coordinated with the reciprocation of said pump for causing liquid to be discharged from said tank during the intake stroke of the pump and for preventing flow from'said tank during the discharge stroke of the pump.

3. In a liquid vending apparatus, the combination with a storage reservoir, of a measuring tank, a vertically movable discharge pipe in said tank, a reciprocating pump and pipe connections for transferring liquid from said reservoir to said tank, said pump including a movable operating element and having an intake; stroke for withdrawing liquid from said reservoir and a discharge stroke for causing such withdrawn liquid to flow into said tank, and means for connecting said element to said discharge pipe whereby said pipe is moved in coordination with the movement of said pulnp element.

4:. In a liquid vending apparatus, the combination with a storage reservoir, of a measuring tank, a vertically movable discharge pipe in said tank, a pump and pipe connections for transferring liquid from said reservoir to said tank, said pump including'a movable operating element and having an intake stroke for drawing liquid from said reservoir and a discharge stroke for causing the liquid received by the' intake stroke to flow into said tank, and connections between said pump element and discharge pipe whereby the discharge pi e is raised during the discharge stroke 0 the pump and lowered during the intake stroke thereof to discharge liquid from said tank.

In a liquid vending apparatus, the combination with a storage reservoir, of a measuring tank, a vertically movable discharge pipe projecting upwardly in said tank, a pump including a casing and reciprocating piston therein, conduits extending from said reservoir to said pump casing and from the latter to said tank, means for reciprocating said piston to transferliquid from said reservoir to said casing and .from the latter to said tank, and connections betweensaid piston and discharge pipe whereby the latter is raised during the discharge stroke of the pump and lowered during the intake stroke thereof to discharge liquid from said tank.

' 6. In a liquid vending apparatus, the combination with a storage reservoir, of a measuring tank, a vertically movable discharge pipe projecting upwardly in said tank, a pump including a casing'and a reciprocating piston therein, a rod connecting said piston and discharge pipe to each other, conduits extending from said reservoir to said casing and from the latter to said tank, and means for reciprocating said rod to simultaneously lower the discharge pipe and efi'ect an intake stroke of said piston and to simultaneously raise said pipe and effect a discharge stroke of said piston.

In a liquid vending apparatus, the combination with a storage reservoir, of a measuring tank, a pump and pipe connections for transferring liquid from said reservoir to said tank, an air conduit connecting said pump with the top of said tank, and means for operating said pump to alternately fill said tank with liquid and to apply air pres sure to the liquid in the tank for expelling it.

8. In a liquid vending apparatus, the combination with a storage reservoir, of a measuring tank, a reciprocating pump including a piston and easing, pipe connections leading from said reservoir to one end of saidcasing and from said casing end to said tank for transferring-liquid from the reservoir to the tank, and an air conduit connecting the other end of said pump with said tank, where by the reciprocation of said piston in one direction becomes effective to fill said tank with liquid and in the other direction to apply air pressure to the liquid in the tank for expelling it.

9. In a liquid vending apparatus, the combination with a storage reservoir, of a measuring tank, a vertically movable discharge pipe in said tank, a pump and pipe connections for transferring liquid from said reser voir to said tank, said pump including a movable operating element, connections between said pump element and discharge pipe whereby the latter is moved in coordination with the former, delivery and return conduits leading from said tank, means for controlling flow through said conduits, a registering ap- .paratus, and means coordinated with the downward movement of said discharge pipe for advancing said register, when flow communication is established between said tank and delivery conduit. M

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

JOHN M. MILLER. Witnesses:

BEATRICE FITZGERALD, PAUL N. Cm'rcHLow. 

